Salty adds to Yankees' wounds with grand slam in Red Sox win

Boston's Jarrod Saltalamacchia, second from left, is welcomed home by, from left, Jonny Gomes, David Ortiz, and Shane Victorino after hitting a grand slam in the seventh inning of Friday's game against the Yankees. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

BOSTON -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia belted a tiebreaking grand slam in the seventh as host Boston put a dent in rival New York's playoff chances with an 8-4 win Friday at Fenway Park.

Stephen Drew doubled in two runs and Daniel Nava added an RBI single and scored for the Red Sox, who lead the American League East by 8 1/2 games over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Brandon Workman (6-3) got the win in relief of John Lackey as Boston improved to 11-6 against the Yankees this season. Robinson Cano went 4-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs as New York slipped 2 games behind the Rays in the race for the second AL wild card.

Hiroki Kuroda (11-11) surrendered a leadoff single in the seventh before yielding to the bullpen.

Cesar Cabral hit the only batter he faced and Preston Claiborne walked Johnny Gomes to load the bases before Saltalamacchia drove a 0-1 fastball over the bullpen in right-center two batters later.

Boston jumped on top quickly with four runs in the first inning, capped by Drew's double off the left-field wall.

The Yankees began to fight back on Brendan Ryan's solo home run in the third and Lyle Overbay's sacrifice fly in the sixth before Cano's bases-loaded double in the seventh knotted it up.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Lackey was charged with four runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. He owns a 5.76 ERA against the Yankees this season and 3.19 against everyone else. Kuroda lasted six-plus innings and was charged with five runs on eight hits. ... Koji Uehara struck out one in a perfect ninth and extended his team record to 37 straight batters retired. ... New York CF Brett Gardner was diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain in his rib cage and is expected to be out for a lengthy period of time.

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